//John Lewis Partnership unveils new initiatives and £1.2m to support families this summer as the cost-of-living crisis continues
// Waitrose will also be accepting Free School Meal Vouchers over the summer
With schools breaking up for the holidays in the coming weeks, the John Lewis Partnership has unveiled several initiatives to support families this summer.
With up to three million children at risk of facing hunger over the school holidays, Waitrose and John Lewis shops will be donating over £1m to fund places at holiday clubs, trips, equipment to support fun activities and healthy snacks and meals.
The Partnership is also teaming up with Home-Start UK this summer to roll out a programme called Healthy Happy Home, providing training to Home-Start’s network of ten thousand volunteers to help them support families in key areas including food, nutrition & cooking, sleep and financial wellbeing.
In addition to this, Waitrose will accept Free School Meal vouchers throughout the summer and will continue to work with FareShare to donate surplus food to people supported by their community partners.
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Select Waitrose stores will also be offering customers the chance to donate Give A Little Love bags, which will contain healthy snacks, toiletries, nappies and other essential everyday items.
The bags, which come in a range of prices up to £10, can be paid for at the checkout and dropped off at one of the Give A Little Love food bank donation points in-store. The items are collected by the local food bank and distributed to those in the community who need it most.
According to a recent survey by the John Lewis Partnership, being able to put healthy meals on kitchen tables is one of the biggest concerns for parents this summer.
With 56% of respondents saying they struggle to get a balanced diet of fruit, vegetables, protein and healthy carbohydrates into their children’s diets at regular times of the year, let alone during the summer holidays.
John Lewis Partnership partner and social impact & health lead Lindsey Crompton said: “Our shops play a key role in their local communities and we know that the long summer holidays can be stressful for parents and caregivers trying to juggle work, childcare, feeding the family with extra daily meals each day and keeping everyone entertained. We are proud to be able to help ease the impact of some of these concerns and help reduce the number of families facing hunger this summer.”
“Working with the Trussell Trust and other local food banks, we are encouraging customers to donate food or personal care items to the permanent collection boxes located in our Waitrose branches. Since the start of this year, our generous customers have donated the equivalent of over one million meals to people through emergency food parcels provided by local food banks alongside practical support. On top of this, we have donated over 10 million meals worth of food to local organisations through our work with FareShare to date.”
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